Kuznetsova into last eight

Paris - Russia's 27th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova reached her seventh French Open quarter-final on Monday as she knocked out Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4.

The St. Petersburg native, who won her second Grand Slam title in Paris in 2009, five years after winning the US Open, will now meet Romanian fourth seed Simona Halep for a place in the semi-finals.

The 28-year-old, who also reached the 2006 final in Paris where she was beaten by Justine Henin, broke three times to take the opening set in 34 minutes.

She then closed out the match 6-4 on her second match point.

Kuznetsova is one of two former champions in the quarter-finals -- the other is 2012 champion and fellow Russian Maria Sharapova.

Safarova, seeded 23, was trying to equal her best Grand Slam result of 2007 when she reached the last eight of the Australian Open.

Results on Monday at the French Open, the ninth day of the season's second Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros (x denotes seeded player):

Men

Fourth round

Rafael Nadal (ESP x1) bt Dusan Lajovic (SRB) 6-1, 6-2, 6-1

David Ferrer (ESP x5) bt Kevin Anderson (RSA x19) 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1

Gael Monfils (FRA x23) bt Guillermo Garca-Lopez (ESP) 6-0, 6-2, 7-5

Andy Murray (GBR x7) bt Fernando Verdasco (ESP x24) 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3)

Women

Fourth round

Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x27) bt Lucie Safarova (CZE x23) 6-3, 6-4

Simona Halep (ROM x4) bt Sloane Stephens (USA x15) 6-4, 6-3

Sara Errani (ITA x10) bt Jelena Jankovic (SRB x6) 7-6 (7/5), 6-2

Andrea Petkovic (GER x28) bt Kiki Bertens (NED) 1-6, 6-2, 7-5